Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Guardian of Monarch Butterfly Grounds Eulogized in Mexico
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
February 1, 2020

Share

OCAMPO, Mexico — Hundreds of farmers and agricultural workers thronged the funeral of activist Homero Gómez González on Friday, and the homage to him was like a tribute to the monarch butterfly he so staunchly defended.

“Thanks to him many of you had work, or more work — those who sell food in the reserve, those who sell their handicrafts, those who bring their horses to carry visitors into the reserve.” — Rev. Saul Saucedo
The butterflies’ annual migration, threatened by logging, avocado farming and climate and environmental change, has also represented a ray of hope and income for the impoverished, pine-clad mountains of Michoacan state.
Nobody worked harder than Gómez González — whose body was found this week at the bottom of a holding pond with a head wound — to stop logging, reforest and bring tourists to the butterflies” wintering grounds.
In an area where crime, construction work and wood cutting provide some of the only sources of income, Gómez González provided a way out, ensuring income for the communal farmers who actually own the land in the butterfly reserve.
“Thanks to him many of you had work, or more work — those who sell food in the reserve, those who sell their handicrafts, those who bring their horses to carry visitors into the reserve,” Rev. Saul Saucedo said in the funeral homily.
It may sound like low-wage jobs, but it is that tenuous economy that keeps the pine and fir trees from being cut down and preserves the butterflies’ marvelous migration from the United States and Canada each year.
Photo of the flag-draped coffin of environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez at his wake in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico
Flowers surround the flag-draped coffin of environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez at his wake in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. Relatives of the anti-logging activist who fought to protect the winter habitat of monarch butterflies don’t know whether he was murdered or died accidentally, but they say they do know one thing for sure: something bad is happening to rights and environmental activists in Mexico, and people are afraid. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Gómez González Led Hundreds of Communal Farmers in a Demonstration

It also feeds the family of communal farmer Raúl García González,.
“When there’s no work here, I go out and look for day labor jobs,” said the stringy, weather-beaten García González.
Like many of the communal land owners, he fears Gómez González’s death could add to the already bad reputation that drug cartel violence has given to the western state of Michoacan.
“We hope that all the people who come to the reserve will feel safe, because what happened to him was an accident,” the farmer said.
But the death was not so clear. Autopsy results showed Gómez González drowned in the holding pond after leaving a party Jan. 13, but they also showed he had a head wound.
There would have been no shortage of people for whom life would have been easier if Gómez González wasn’t around.
García recalled how, in 2019, Gómez González led hundreds of communal farmers in a demonstration in the nearby town of Angangueo to demand the town pay for water it receives from the mountain streams that are born on their properties.
They never got an answer.

He Managed to Reforest About 370 Acres of Previously Cleared Land

While known as a friendly, big-hearted man who liked to pose for photographs surrounded by the swarms of black and orange butterflies that roost in trees here each winter, Gómez González was a leader and a community activist — a dangerous profession in Mexico, where dozens are killed each year.

“He fought for his town, and that fills me with pride. A lot of the things we have are due to that struggle, which took many years. He fought against a thousand things.” — Son Homero Gómez Valencia
Son Homero Gómez Valencia, 19, said his father could organize angry, resolute demonstrations, like the time he led farmers in taking over the state capitol building in the city of Morelia to demand development aid.
“He fought for his town, and that fills me with pride,” said Gómez Valencia. “A lot of the things we have are due to that struggle, which took many years. He fought against a thousand things.”
One of those enemies were illegal loggers, who threatened to punch gaps in the protective tree cover needed by the butterflies to survive winter chills. He then persuaded fellow farmers to replant cleared land with trees.
By local accounts, he managed to reforest about 370 acres of previously cleared land.
“He taught us to be a united people,” his son said.
In Mexico, that can be a dangerous thing to do. London-based Global Witness counted 15 killings of environmental activists in Mexico in 2017 and 14 in 2018. In an October 2019 report, Amnesty International said 12 had been killed in the first nine months of that year.
Photo of workers preparing a grave in the cemetery where environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez was to be buried the following day, in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico
Workers prepare a grave in the cemetery where environmental activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez was to be buried the following day, in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. Relatives of the anti-logging activist who fought to protect the winter habitat of monarch butterflies don’t know whether he was murdered or died accidentally, but they say they do know one thing for sure: something bad is happening to rights and environmental activists in Mexico, and people are afraid. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Autopsy Results Produced Evidence of the Head Injury

“Something strange is happening, because they’re finishing off all the activists, the people who are doing something for society,” said Amado Gómez, the victim’s brother.
A few hours after the body was found on Wednesday, Michoacan state prosecutors said an initial review indicated a drowning and found no signs of trauma, but a statement Thursday night said more detailed autopsy results produced evidence of the head injury.
Authorities gave no other information on the injury and did not say how it might have been inflicted. They said an investigation continued, suggesting the case wasn’t considered an accident.
Prosecutors said robbery appeared not to be a potential motive, since almost $500 in cash was found on his body.
On Thursday night, mourners in threadbare clothes amid a few candles and simple floral arrangements underscored the tough struggle being played out in the nesting grounds, beset by grinding poverty and gang violence.
“I would like to ask the authorities to do their job and do more to protect activists like my brother, because lately in Mexico a lot of activists have died,” Amado Gómez said. “With his death, not only my family lost a loved one; but the whole world, and the monarch butterfly and the forests lost, too.”
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described Gómez Gonzàlez’s death as “regrettable” and “painful” in remarks Thursday.
[activecampaign form=29]

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

DON'T MISS

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

DON'T MISS

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

DON'T MISS

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

DON'T MISS

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

DON'T MISS

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

DON'T MISS

Fresno Council Lowers Speed Limits on Friant and Audubon

UP NEXT

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

UP NEXT

Pope to Make Late Italian Teenager Carlo Acutis the First Millennial Saint on April 27

UP NEXT

US Vetoes UN Ceasefire Resolution in Gaza Conflict

UP NEXT

Israeli Officials Demand the Right to Strike Hezbollah Under Any Cease-Fire Deal for Lebanon

UP NEXT

Spain Will Legalize Hundreds of Thousands of Undocumented Migrants in the Next 3 Years

UP NEXT

TSMC Walks a Geopolitical Tightrope

UP NEXT

Volunteers Came Back to Nonprofits in 2023, After the Pandemic Tanked Participation

UP NEXT

New Study: Proposed Trump Tariffs Could Cost US Consumers $78 Billion a Year

UP NEXT

Iran Defies International Pressure, Increasing Its Stockpile of Near Weapons-Grade Uranium, UN Says

UP NEXT

Riders Stuck in Midair for Over 2 Hours on Knott’s Berry Farm Ride

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

1 hour ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

2 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

2 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

2 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

2 hours ago

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

3 hours ago

Fresno Council Lowers Speed Limits on Friant and Audubon

3 hours ago

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

4 hours ago

UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Breaks NCAA Wins Record With 1,217th Victory

4 hours ago

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

4 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

Three of the nation’s largest automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, are strategizing with other car manufacturers on how to make ...

27 minutes ago

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administration’s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
27 minutes ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

31 minutes ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

51 minutes ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at First Horizon Coliseum, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Greensboro, NC. (AP/Alex Brandon)
1 hour ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

2 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

2 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

2 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

2 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend